Minnesota IT Agency Investigating Calls That Bombarded Health Insurance Hotline
Phone lines for the state's MNsure health insurance exchange received over 80,000 calls on Tuesday—far more than usual.
Robocalls Jam MNsure Call Center; Alabama Gov.: ‘Our Education System Sucks!’
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Demolition begins on plutonium facility; more layoffs in Maine’s paper industry; Washington county tracks down unlicensed pet owners.
Navigator Award Finalists: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith
There’s a need to expand access to free pre-kindergarten programs in Minnesota. And while an earlier Dayton administration proposal to do that in a big way didn’t gain traction, the North Star State took an important step in the right direction.
Hundreds Arrested in Police Protests; Law Enforcement Officers Take New Precautions
Also in our State and Local Weekend News Digest: Tainted water worries in Houston; Michigan opens new Chinese investment center; and Denver’s unaffordable housing.
A Way for States to Streamline Parks and Recreation Access
In search of more revenue to fund parks, states are looking to better leverage the license plate registration and renewal process.
Helping High Schoolers Connect Degrees to Dollars
States hope that data on what college graduates earn in different fields will help high school students make better choices.
Route Fifty Roadmap: An Iconic Piece of Infrastructure for the Zenith City
The 111-year-old Aerial Lift Bridge is a reminder of Duluth’s industrial past and a landmark that’s at the center of the city’s tourism efforts.
Minnesota Governor’s Big Cybersecurity Spending Plan Gets Iffy Support in Legislature
Debate about funding levels reflects national discussion about whether states are investing enough to keep computer systems and data safe from hackers and other threats.
Minnesota State Lawmaker Pushes Statewide Idea to Honor Prince
Hint: It involves the color purple.
State DOTs Are Turning to Drones for Bridge Inspections and Other Work
The agencies see unmanned aircraft as a way to save money and curb risks, according to new information from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
St. Paul Looks at Innovative Models to Rebuild Its Aging Infrastructure
Shared stormwater systems could help brownfield redevelopment planning.
Are States Obligated to Provide Expensive Hepatitis C Drugs?
New hepatitis C drugs boast cure rates of at least 95 percent. But states are restricting their use for Medicaid patients and prisoners because the cost is so high.
Vacant Walmart Sites Create Giant Big-Box Stumbling Blocks for Local Governments
As the global retail giant shutters 154 U.S. stores, some communities are facing huge economic redevelopment hurdles. But there are some outside-the-box ideas for filling these hard-to-fill footprints.
For Cities, Mapping Minority-Owned Small Businesses Requires Face-to-Face Engagement
At the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting, Kansas City Mayor Sly James discussed ways Missouri’s most populous municipality is closing its digital divide to spur entrepreneurship.
In Drug Epidemic, Resistance to Medication Costs Lives
Doctors and brain researchers agree that medications such as buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone are the most effective anti-addiction weapons available. So why aren’t more addicts getting them?
States Let Commercial Walk-in Health Clinics Grow Unregulated
Commercial walk-in clinics now provide basic health care for millions of Americans, and states have let them grow largely unregulated.
These Two Major Metros Saw a Decrease in Small Business Activity in 2015
Charlotte was one them, according to the Kauffman Foundation's new Main Street Entrepreneurship Index.
How Minnesota Rebuilt Its Rainy Day Fund and Created Its Largest Budget Reserve in History
A first step for states planning for future economic downturns: “Lawmakers need to determine what exactly constitutes rain.”
Help for California Towns With Dry Wells; Making America More Dementia Friendly Now
Also: Hoping to end the gerrymander in Ohio and working to turnaround the criminal justice disaster in Maryland
A Federal ID Act Is ‘Getting REAL’ for These States
Four states, soon to be five, lack waivers that could save their residents from being turned away by airport security starting in January.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.